We've convicted the pilot based on the speculation of a few "experts" who have been ran out on CNN with no specific technical knowledge of what caused the plane to (apparently) crash.
This has happened because the media, in their current rush to be first rather than necessarily right, has told us he has "political ties" to some jihadists currently sitting in a Malaysian prison. It's gotten so bad that Shah's son felt the need to come out and defend his father despite there being no evidence to pick apart.
When looking at the situation the only "fact" evident is that there are very few "facts" to go on. We can't even find the plane, much less determine how (or why) it turned, whether it turned or whether there was a mechanical failure that might have caused it to turn. The "fact" is we just don't know. Anything offered now is speculation. Speculation, I should add, that's needed to fill a 24/7 news cycle on channels overseen by people who don't think the American people have a desire to take a look at thorny domestic issues such as government finances or the continuing tragicomedy that is the Affordable Care Act.
It's gotten so bad I'm waiting for some talking head to call this Malaysia-gate.
It's not as if the so-called "good-old-days" were any better. The dirty little secret of the media is that they've ALWAYS been about making money and turning some type of profit. They act as if this isn't the case and that they were, once upon a time, loss leaders but the truth is that, in order to stay a going concern, you have to make money.
From Revolutionary times where newspaper founders were often businessmen whose editorial lean just happened to dovetail with their private interests, to the modern age where sales pitches masquerade as 'news', the media has always been nothing more than a private enterprise with the annoying belief that they have a right to pry into the lives of private citizens.
When someone is injured or dies tragically, here comes the media with their cameras, recorders and microphones shoving them in the faces of grieving families because "the public has a right to know" just how bad the loved-ones of the deceased are feeling right now. I believe the vernacular is "human interest stores". Bull. Crying children and spouses are ratings getters, page hit drivers, it's why the Las Vegas Review Journal recently had a "buy me" click-link on a picture of a recently deceased former casino owner. It's why every third story on ChronBlog, and almost every story on the Houston Press, contains some type of barely-relevant-to-the-story slide show. A reporter died, so click on this slideshow of other reporters who have left Houston?
I have no idea whether or not Shah is guilty of turning the plane and crashing it as some have speculated. I also, at this time, have no idea what caused Malaysian 370 to crash, not crash, or even where the plane might be. The thing is, neither do any of the people coming on CNN and other networks telling you what they think happened.
It's all just guesswork, much like every editorial ever written by Mrs. White. The only advice I can give is to just turn it off, click elsewhere or use the dead-tree edition to start your BBQ coals. Given most of the content, that's about all it's good for anyway. Save your energy and time for the things that matter. Ignore peddlers of the journalism equivalent of snake oil, which doesn't matter in the slightest.
